Central Illinois woman killed in Iraq

Tuesday

Cindy Blackston always looked up to her older sister, Army Spc. Karen Clifton.

“She wasn’t only my sister, but my best friend. I loved her a lot,” Blackston, 18, said by phone Monday afternoon.

She supported her sister’s decision to join the Army despite her own concerns about Clifton’s safety.

“Ever since she was a little girl, she wanted to be in the Army,” Blackston recalled. “We tried to talk her out of it, but that’s what she wanted to do. She wanted to be on the front lines, and she wanted to support her country.”

Clifton was performing the job she loved when her family’s worst fear was realized. The 22-year-old was killed Thursday in Baghdad when a rocket-propelled grenade struck her vehicle, according to the Department of Defense.

“She wasn’t only my sister, but my best friend. I loved her a lot,” Blackston, 18, said by phone Monday afternoon.

She supported her sister’s decision to join the Army despite her own concerns about Clifton’s safety.

“Ever since she was a little girl, she wanted to be in the Army,” Blackston recalled. “We tried to talk her out of it, but that’s what she wanted to do. She wanted to be on the front lines, and she wanted to support her country.”

Clifton was performing the job she loved when her family’s worst fear was realized. The 22-year-old was killed Thursday in Baghdad when a rocket-propelled grenade struck her vehicle, according to the Department of Defense.

“She’s a hero. She’s our hero. We love her and we’ll miss her,” Blackston said outside Dawson & Wikoff Funeral Home, where her family met Monday. Arrangements are pending while the family awaits word of when Clifton’s body will return home, she said.

Clifton – who was born in Decatur, grew up in Mount Zion and lived briefly in Sangamon County – was assigned to the 554th Military Police Company, 95th Military Police Battalion, in Kaiserslautern, Germany.

Her father, Douglas Clifton, lives in Mount Zion and her mother, Chris Hancock, in Illiopolis.

Hancock said her daughter lived briefly with her in Illiopolis and Springfield and had moved to Florida with her half-sister, Heather Maple, also 22, where she finished high school at Fort Myers.

Clifton signed up for a five-year commitment with the Army and had recently completed her fourth year. She had been deployed in Iraq since June 2006.

Clifton was originally scheduled to return stateside this June 1, but her tour was extended through October.

“I keep thinking (if her leave had ended) June 1, she would still be here,” Hancock said.

Blackston and Hancock said they kept in touch with Clifton as much as possible through text messages and phone calls, the last one a week and a half ago.

“The last thing I remember her telling me before I hung up was, “I love you.” Those were the last words I said to her,” Blackston said.

Hancock said she had sent a text message to her daughter on Wednesday, but never heard back.

“She usually texted right back, but I thought, ‘She’s just busy.’”

Her family said Clifton was driving a Humvee carrying three other people when it was attacked. She was the only occupant killed.

Hancock and Blackston last saw Clifton when she returned to central Illinois on leave just before Christmas. The family went out to eat together and mother and daughter hit the town together.

“We had a blast,” Hancock said.

Blackston said she regrets that her sister never had the opportunity to meet her 5-month-old daughter.

“It’s been very tough, and we’re still grieving about it. I try everyday to think about the good times that we had,” she said.

Those memories include Clifton’s love of Indy car racing and her positive attitude. Clifton also had aspirations of becoming a state trooper.

“I just want everybody to know that she was a hero, and she fought for this country for everybody. And I just hope people appreciate what she did,” Hancock said.

Amanda Reavy can be reached at (217) 788-1525 or amanda.reavy@sj-r.com.

* Illinois soldier deaths

Karen Clifton, 22, a Decatur native, is the 21st service member who resided or grew up in the state to be killed in Iraq or Afghanistan since January, and the 175th fatality since Sept. 11, 2001, according to Elizabeth Austin, spokeswoman for Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn's office.

She is the second woman this year to be killed while serving overseas. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Jennifer A. Valdivia, 27, of Cambridge, died in what was described as a “non-combat related incident” while serving in Bahrain on Jan. 16.

The number of female soldiers from Illinois killed in combat during the war on terror and Iraq conflict is not tracked by the lieutenant governor’s office.

“It’s hard for us at this distance to say precisely what roles in combat women are taking, but there has been a number of women service members killed from Illinois, so clearly they are in harm’s way as are their male colleagues,” Austin said.

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